1 And the word of the LORD {YHWH, Divine Communicator} came to me, saying {lemor: introduces divine speech}.
2 Son of man {ben adam: descendant of humanity}, there were two women, the daughters of one mother {em achat: single maternal source}.
3 They acted as prostitutes {zanu: illicit sexuality} in Egypt, in their youth they acted as prostitutes; there their breasts were pressed, and there the nipples of their virginity {betuleihen: maidenhood} were handled.
4 And their names were Aholah the elder and Aholibah her sister, and they became Mine {li: covenant possession} and bore sons and daughters. Samaria {Shomron: northern capital} is Aholah, and Jerusalem is Aholibah.
5 Aholah played the harlot under Me {YHWH, Sovereign Owner}, and she lusted after her lovers, toward the Assyrians, her near ones {qerovim: neighboring peoples}.
6 Clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them desirable young men {bakhurei khemed: choice youths}, horsemen {parashim: cavalry troopers} riding on horses.
7 And she gave her harlotries {taznuteha: sexual betrayals} upon them—the choicest sons of Assyria, all of them—and with all for whom she lusted, with all their idols {gilulehem: detestable images} she became defiled.
8 And she did not abandon her harlotries {taznutah: unfaithful acts} from Egypt, for in her youth men lay with her and they handled the breasts of her virginity {betuleha: personal purity}, and they poured out their harlotries upon her.
9 Therefore, I gave her into the hand {yad: instrument of control} of her lovers, into the hand of the sons of Assyria, after whom she lusted {agvah: expressed illicit desire}.
10 They uncovered her nakedness, they took her sons {baneha: male heirs} and daughters, and they killed her with the sword; she became a name among women, and judgments {ushephutim: legal executions} were carried out against her.
11 When her sister Aholibah saw it, she was more corrupt in her passion {agvatah: powerful desire} than her sister, and her whorings surpassed those of her sister {akhotah: sibling in allegory}.
12 She lusted after the sons of Assyria—governors and officials {pakhot: regional commanders}, close associates clothed in complete splendor, horsemen riding horses, all of them desirable young men {bakhurei: prime of youth}.
13 And I saw that she was defiled; one{echad: same} way{derekh: Path, Behavior} was for both of them.
14 And she added to her harlotries {taznut: unfaithful acts}, and she saw men portrayed on the wall—images of the Chaldeans engraved in vermilion {shashar: red pigment}.
15 Girded with sashes {ezor: waistbands} around their waists and with flowing dyed cloths upon their heads, they had the appearance of officers {shalishim: high-ranking officials}, all of them like the sons of Babylon, the Chaldeans, of the land of their birth.
16 And she lusted {ta‘gebah: illicit longing} after them at the sight of her eyes, and she sent messengers to them in Chaldea {kasdimah: Babylonian territory}.
17 And the sons of Babylon came to her to the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom {taznutam: sexual unfaithfulness}, and she was defiled by them; and her soul {nafshah: inner being} became disgusted with them.
18 So she uncovered her prostitution {taznut: unfaithful acts} and exposed her nakedness, and My soul {YHWH, Divine Revulsion} was torn away from her just as it was torn away from her sister.
19 And she multiplied her whoredoms {taznuteiha: acts of infidelity}, to remember the days of her youth, when she played the harlot {zonetah: illicit lover} in the land of Egypt.
20 And she lusted after their lovers, whose flesh {besar: physical body} was like the flesh of donkeys, and whose emission {zirmat: seminal flow} was like the emission of horses.
21 So you longed for the lewdness {zimmat: moral depravity} of your youth {neʿurayikh: early formative years}, when the Egyptians handled your breasts for the sake of the breasts of your youth.
22 Therefore, Aholibah, thus says the Lord GOD {Adonai YHWH, Sovereign Judge}: “Behold, I am stirring up your lovers {meahavayikh: those to whom you were devoted} against you, those from whom your soul has turned away, and I will bring them against you on every side.”
23 The sons of Babylon {Bavel: ancient Mesopotamian empire}, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, all the sons of Assyria with them—choice young men of delight {chemed: highly prized}, governors and officials, all of them captains and renowned ones, riders of horses, all of them.
24 And they will come against you with a troop of chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of peoples. Buckler, shield, and helmet they will set against you all around, and I {YHWH: Sovereign Judge} will place judgment {mishpat: legal ruling} before them, and they will judge you by their judgments.
25 And I {YHWH, Jealous Judge} will set my jealousy against you, and they will deal with you in fury. Your nose and your ears they will remove, and your remnant {acharit: surviving portion} shall fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters, and your remnant will be devoured by fire.
26 And they will strip you of your clothes and take away the articles {klei: ornamental objects} of your adornment {tif’arteikh: outward splendor}.
27 And I {YHWH, Delivering Judge} will put an end to your lewdness {zimmatek: wicked plan or sexual transgression} from you and your harlotry from the land of Egypt, and you will not lift up your eyes to them any longer, nor remember Egypt anymore.
28 For thus says the Lord GOD {Adonai YHWH, Sovereign Judge}: “Behold, I am giving you into the hand of those whom you hate, into the hand of those from whom your soul {nephesh: whole self} has turned away.”
29 And they will deal with you in hatred, and they will take away all your labor, and they will leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your whoredoms will be uncovered—your lewdness {zimmatek: secret devise} and your prostitution {taznutayikh: ritual unfaithfulness}.
30 These things will be done to you because of your harlotries {zenuthot: unfaithful devotion} after the nations and because you have become defiled with their idols {gillulim: detestable objects}.
31 You have walked in the way {derekh: moral path} of your sister; therefore I will give her cup {kos: vessel of judgment} into your hand.
32 Thus says the Lord GOD {Adonai YHWH, Sovereign Judge}, “You shall drink your sister’s cup, deep and wide; it shall become a source of laughter {letzḥoq: derision} and mocking, having much to contain.”
33 You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow; a cup of desolation {shammah: utter ruin} and waste, the cup of your sister Samaria {Shomron: capital of the northern kingdom}.
34 And you shall drink it and drain it out, and you shall gnaw its shards {charaseha: broken pieces of pottery}, and you shall tear off your breasts; for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD {YHWH Adonai, Divine Judge}.
35 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD {Adonai YHWH, Sovereign Judge}: Because you have forgotten Me and have cast Me behind your back, you also must now bear your lewdness {zimmah: calculated wickedness} and your whoredoms.
36 And the LORD {YHWH, Judge and Sender} said to me, “Son of man, will you judge Aholah and Aholibah? And declare to them their abominations {toavot: detestable acts}.”
37 For they have committed adultery {ni'efu: spiritual unfaithfulness}, and blood {dam: symbol of guilt} is in their hands; with their idols they have committed adultery, and they have also caused their sons, whom they bore to Me {YHWH: Injured Husband}, to pass through for them as food.
38 Moreover, this they have done to Me {li: desecration target}: they have defiled My sanctuary {mikdashi: sacred dwelling} on that day and have profaned My Sabbaths.
39 When they slaughtered their sons for their idols, then they came into My {YHWH, Protector of Sanctuary} sanctuary on that same day to profane {lechalel: desecrate or render unclean} it; and behold, this is what they did in the midst of My house.
40 And also you sent for men {anashim: adult males} coming from distant regions, to whom a messenger had been sent, and behold, they came. For whom you washed yourself, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornament {edi: decorative jewelry or attire}.
41 And you sat upon a glorious bed, and on a table prepared before her you placed My incense {ketoret: aromatic offering} and My oil {shemen: anointing liquid} on it.
42 And a sound of a carefree crowd {hamon: festive throng} was in her; and with men from the multitude of people the drunkards and the Sabeans were brought from the wilderness, and they put bracelets {tsemidim: wrist ornaments} on the women’s hands and a crown of splendor on the women’s heads.
43 And I said to the woman grown old in adulteries {ni'ufim: acts of marital unfaithfulness}, “At this time will they commit adulteries with her prostitution {taznutah: the practice of prostitution}, and she with them?”
44 And they entered to her as one enters to a prostitute {zonah: practices harlotry}; so they entered to Oholah and to Oholibah, women of lewdness {hazimmah: sexual depravity}.
45 And righteous {tsaddiqim: morally upright} men will judge them according to the judgment of adulteresses and according to the judgment of women who shed blood {dam: symbol of violent guilt}; for they are adulteresses and blood is in their hands.
46 For thus says the Lord GOD {Adonai YHWH, Sovereign Master}: Bring up an assembly against them and give them over to terror {zaavah: dreadful horror} and to plunder.
47 And the assembly {kahal: gathered group for judgment} shall stone them with stones {even: execution projectiles}, and cut them down with their swords; their sons and their daughters they shall kill, and their houses they shall burn with fire.
48 And I {YHWH, Purifying Judge} will cause lewdness to cease from the land, and all the women will be disciplined, and they will not act according to your lewdness {zimmah: brazen immorality}.
49 And they shall bring your lewdness {zimmatkhenah: moral depravity} upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols, and you shall know that I am the LORD GOD {Adonai YHWH, Sovereign Judge}.